Chased by Love (Love in Bloom: The Ryders): Trish Ryder,
p.10

He came down over her, his hard length perched against her center, and their eyes locked.

“Condom,” they said in unison.

His head dropped between his shoulders.

“Don’t you have one? In your wallet or something?”

He shook his head. “Contrary to my reputation, I don’t sleep around.”

She closed her eyes and whimpered. “I never thought I’d ever say this, but why the hell not?”

He slid his hands beneath her head, cradling it as he smiled down at her.

“Because I always hoped one day I’d meet someone like you, and I didn’t want a string of senseless mistakes hanging around my neck.”

“Boone,” she whispered, feeling him slip into her heart as raindrops slid between their bodies. “That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Come on, beautiful.” He rose to his feet in all his naked glory and helped her up.

“Where?” she asked as they gathered their clothes.

“We need to make a run to the store.”

They hurried toward the house hand in hand.

“Um.” Trish tucked herself against his side, wondering if he was going to think less of her for what she said next. “No, we don’t.”

He looked down at her with a quizzical expression as they climbed the porch steps. She nibbled at her lower lip, and he tugged her against him with a hearty laugh.

“You little minx!”

“Ugh!” She laughed as he crashed his mouth over hers, and they stumbled into the kitchen. “I don’t sleep around,” she insisted between kisses.

They kissed and stumbled through the living room, tumbling down to the couch and laughing as they made out with reckless abandon.

“Upstairs,” Boone managed, and lifted her into his arms, carrying her toward the stairs. “So you have condoms because…”

She buried her face in his chest. “I could lie and say it has to do with working with the man I’ve had a crush on for too many years to admit without outing myself as a ridiculous girl, or I can tell you the truth.”

“That’s an excellent lie,” he said as he carried her into his bedroom and found the kitten sleeping soundly on his pillow.

“My room,” she whispered.

He leaned in for another kiss and headed down the hall. “Does the truth have to do with some other guy?”

“Actually, no,” she said as he set her down beside her bed. “I haven’t done this in so long, I’m not sure I’ll remember how. The truth is, my father was in search and rescue. My brother Jake followed in his footsteps, and my brother Cash is a fireman.” She went to her closet and pulled out an enormous first-aid kit. “My family has a thing about being prepared. I have about six of these kits at home, although I have to admit, I never thought I’d actually have a need to use anything but a bandage.”

He arched a brow as she dug through the plastic box and tossed two condoms on the bedside table. The window was open, and a cool breeze brought goose bumps to her damp skin.

“They came with the kit. Four of them.”

“Remind me to thank your overprotective brothers.”

**

TRISH LAUGHED AS they tumbled to the bed. “If you value your life, you might not want to mention this to them.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to laugh during sex.” Boone nipped at her chin, earning another sweet giggle from the sexy woman who was making his heart turn over in his chest.

Trish reached up and stroked his cheek. “Then maybe you should kiss me instead of teasing me with that mouth I’ve been dreaming of forever.”

“Oh, you like my mouth, do you?” He kissed her deeply, loving the quickening of her breath, the feel of her writhing beneath him. He moved from her lips to her cheek, to the sensitive skin just below her ear.

“Yeah,” she whispered. “I like your mouth a lot.”

He chuckled against her neck, kissing and sucking his way down her damp flesh to the swell of her breast, dragging his tongue over one, then the other. His hands traveled up her ribs, and she gasped as he pushed her breasts together and moved his tongue over her taut, dusky nipples, then blew on them. He rolled one between finger and thumb, lowering his mouth over the other and sucking hard. She arched beneath him, her fingernails digging into his skin.

“Oh God, that feels so good.”

He sucked and licked until she was trembling. Then he lavished her other breast with the same attention. She grasped his head, holding him to her, but Boone didn’t want to just pleasure her. He wanted to drive her out of her ever-loving mind. He took her hands and moved them above her head, curling her fingers around the decorative iron bars on the headboard.

“Hold tight, beautiful.”

She blinked up at him, and he brushed his lips over hers. She reached for him, and he drew her hand back to the bars.

“Hold tight. I promise I won’t disappoint you.” He sealed his vow with another passionate kiss. “Okay?”

She nodded and trapped her lower lip between her teeth. He slicked his tongue over it, and her lips parted.

“If you don’t like anything I do, tell me.” He ran his tongue around her nipple and sucked it into his mouth, holding her gaze. “I can’t wait to be buried deep inside you.” He held her ribs as he kissed her sides, her stomach, and the dip beside each hip, loving the way her breathing hitched and her body arched and writhed as he moved lower. His fingers trailed lightly over her thighs, spreading them gently, revealing her glistening sex.

She closed her eyes, and he knew she was embarrassed, but he loved her eyes and he wanted to see them.

“Watch me,” he coaxed.

Her eyes came open and a flush rose on her skin. He held her gaze as he kissed the sensitive flesh just beside her cleanly waxed sex. The scent of her desire filled his senses. He slicked his tongue up her inner thigh, and her eyes fluttered closed again.

“You’re so beautiful, baby. Open your eyes. Trust me to take care of you.” He brought his mouth to her other thigh, laving his tongue in slow circles as he lifted her knees and spread her legs wider.

She was openly watching him now, breathing harder as he ran his tongue along the crease between her thighs and her sex. Seeing her hands above her head, her hungry eyes on him, so full of lust he could feel it rolling off of her, was almost too much to take.

“I’ve been dying to taste you.” He dragged his tongue between her wet lips, and she moaned. Her eyes closed again. He did it again, and her hips rose off the mattress.

He pressed his hands to her inner thighs, holding her down as he sealed his mouth over her wet heat and took his fill. She rocked against his strength, whimpering and gasping as he loved her with his mouth. When he released her thighs and slid his hands beneath her, she rose to meet his efforts. He angled her hips so he could take more of her, and take he did, with his tongue, his fingers, his teeth. Her legs went rigid, and he lowered her hips to the mattress and trapped her thighs again, holding them apart. She lifted her head from the mattress, and her eyes blazed a path to his, watching as he flicked her most sensitive nerves with his tongue and slid two fingers into her, curling them upward and stroking the spot that sent his name streaming from her lips in desperate cries of pleasure.

When the last quake rumbled through her, she fell to the mattress panting for air. Her hands went to her chest, and Boone’s mouth went to the tender spot behind her knees, seeking Trish’s undiscovered pleasures. She nearly leaped off the bed with the first slick of his tongue.

“Holy cow.” She leaned up on her elbows. “What was that?”

He slithered up her body, kissing her belly, which sent her hips off the bed again. Damn, he loved the way she moved. When he reached her mouth, he cupped her jaw possessively and poured all the emotions he’d been holding back into their kiss.

“That,” he said, kissing her softly, “was me discovering you.”

“You’re like a treasure hunter. A very talented treasure hunter.”

“And you’re so cute and sexy you’re going to make me crazy.” He guided her trembling hands back up to the iron bars at the head of the bed. “Trust me?”

She nodded, and he kissed her again.

“When you look at me like that, I want to skip the foreplay and get right to the main event.”

“Look at you how?” she asked with wide, innocent eyes. “Because I’m loving this foreplay, and I want to be sure not to look at you that way.”

They both laughed as he brought his tongue to the crook of her elbow. “Every way,” he whispered against her skin.

“Uh-oh. I’m closing my eyes.” She didn’t close them.

He shook his head, then laughed when she rolled her eyes.

As he discovered the spots that made her quiver and beg—the base of her neck, the soft flesh beside her breast, the dip at the base of her spine, and his favorite, the crease where her gorgeous ass joined her thighs—she filled the room with sensual pleas, each one hitting Boone right in the heart.

She lay beneath him, her damp hair spread over the pillow, her body flushed and trembling. Her arms had long ago left the iron spokes, and as he came down over her, his hard length sheathed and eager against her center, she reached for him.

Emotions swamped him. “Trish, this is…”

“I know,” she whispered. “I feel it, too.”

“Every ounce of me craves you, from my heart, to my hands, to…”

She smiled up at him, her cheeks flushing anew. “Is that bad? Because you’ve just gotten to know me very intimately, so if you’re going to run, please do it now instead of later.”

“I told you I don’t run.” He kissed her softly, struck by the intensity of their connection. “Being with you is like playing with fire. You push me like no one else ever has. I should run, but I can’t imagine going a single day without seeing you.”

She touched his cheek the way she’d done so many times over the last few hours that he’d come to expect it and revel in it. “Then don’t.”

“My life is crazy, Trish. You might not want to get mixed up with me.”

“I like crazy, and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m already mixed up with you.”

“Baby,” he whispered. “You make me feel like I can get through anything.”

He pressed his lips to hers again, and as their bodies joined together, the pleasure was pure and explosive. They didn’t gaze into each other’s eyes. There was no slow build. This was a strap yourself in and get ready for the ride of your life connection, and Boone’s world spun on its axis. Trish moved with him, arching into his hands, lifting and angling her hips to take him deeper and touching him in ways he’d never been touched—with as much care as passion. She sank her teeth into his skin, cried out his name, and took him to heights he never imagined possible. They played, made love, and fucked for hours, using the two condoms she’d set aside, then going back to the first-aid kit for another. When she insisted on discovering his pleasure points, he thought he’d died and gone to heaven.

Long after Trish dozed off, nestled safely within his arms, Boone lay awake. He’d been bound by his own restraints for so many years, he had a hard time accepting his quiet mind. Guilt tried to work its way in, reminding him of the list of people he needed to check up on and the worries that followed him like a shadow.

As the storm faded into the distance, he pressed his lips to Trish’s forehead and allowed himself to enjoy the sense of peace coming over him. The kitten climbed up the blanket and snuggled against his other side, and Boone closed his eyes, mentally adding Trish and the kitten to his lists. It was time to give that little guy a name.

Chapter Eleven

THE SUN STREAMED in through the open window across the empty side of the bed. Trish didn’t have much morning-after experience to draw upon, but she was pretty sure waking up alone after the night she and Boone had shared wasn’t a good sign. She listened for Boone and heard footsteps downstairs. She thought they’d turned a corner from friends to something much more meaningful, but now she wondered if that feeling was one-sided. She thought back to the things they’d said and winced with the memory of how hard she’d pushed him to talk to her. Was last night’s incredible sex nothing more than post-argument passion run amuck? What if it was? She didn’t do meaningless sex.

Well, if that’s where his head is, then I just did.

She snagged her phone from the bedside table and called Fiona.

Fiona answered on the first ring. “How’s the hottie rocker and not-interested-actress thing going?”

“I think I made a mistake,” she said quietly and rushed. “Only it doesn’t feel like a mistake. But it probably is. And I don’t want it to be, but—”

“Stop right there. This is what I heard. I slept with Boone and I’m freaking out.”

“God, I love you for making this easy.” Trish lowered her voice. “We went out to a bar and I might have gotten jealous and dragged a guy to the dance floor.” She told Fiona all about their rocky, and amazing, evening. “So?”

“I’m still hung up on the doing-it-for-hours part.”

“Fi! Focus. I have to face him, but I don’t know how to act. I’m not good at this.”

“And you think I am? I’ve got less experience than you do. Maybe we should consult one of my sisters-in-law or Shea. I bet Shea would know what to do.”

“No! You are not going to tell anyone about this.” Fiona’s sister, Shea, was Trish’s public relations rep and she would definitely know how to handle this because she dealt with her clients’ sticky situations all the time, as would Fiona’s sisters-in-law, because they were just all-around cool like that. But Trish didn’t need all of Weston, Colorado, and New York City talking about her night of unbelievable sex.

“Well, if it were me, I’d go downstairs and act like you didn’t do anything,” Fiona suggested. “Then watch his reaction. If he’s cold or acts disinterested, then I think you can write it off as a hookup.”

Even though she had pretty much convinced herself that Boone would only escape the bedroom if he wasn’t interested in taking their relationship further, she couldn’t stop thinking about the things he’d said. I can’t imagine going a single day without seeing you.

“I hope he doesn’t act that way, because it would mean I’m a terrible judge of character. He told me things last night about his past that were really personal.” She stopped short of sharing those things with Fiona, because Boone trusted her and they weren’t her stories to tell.

“Then you probably have nothing to worry about. Just go downstairs and act natural.”

Trish lay in bed after their call, listening to the sounds of dishes clanking and Boone’s voice drifting up from the kitchen. She couldn’t tell if he was on the phone or talking to himself. Or the kitten, which he did a lot. She forced herself to her feet, pulled a T-shirt over her head, and looked around the room, like maybe she’d find the answers to her worries there. The first-aid kit sat open on the floor.

Proof of our frantic search for a third condom.

Not the answer she was looking for. She pulled on a pair of underwear and shorts, then stood for a moment reconsidering the shorts. If he was into her, then wouldn’t it be sexier to go downstairs without anything on under her shirt?

Yes, but if he’s not…

She rolled her eyes. She was thinking too much, and that always led her to feel even more self-conscious, which wouldn’t bode well for either direction. She washed her face and brushed her teeth, then headed downstairs to figure out where she stood.

She followed a heavenly aroma to the kitchen and heard Boone talking.

“You’re sure?” He paused, and so did Trish, by the entrance to the kitchen. “Tell Lucky I said to get his ass to work this week. All right. Love you, too, Mom.”

Mom. Their conversation about his parents came back to her, and her chest constricted. She walked into the kitchen just as Boone turned. He was looking down at his phone with a serious expr

ession and holding the kitten in his other hand. The table was set for two, with plates of French toast, eggs, and fruit. He shoved his phone in his pocket, and when his eyes landed on Trish, he smiled.

“Hey, beautiful.” He sounded a little hesitant.

She approached cautiously, although her heart was doing a happy dance at the way he was smiling at her.

“Are you okay?” He reached for her hand.

“Uh-huh.” I’m not sure. “Are you?”

He leaned in for a kiss. “I’m better now. My phone went off at around five and I didn’t want to wake you.” He searched her face, and his expression turned serious again. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I don’t know,” she finally admitted. “I don’t have much experience with morning afters. You seem fine, but that could just be because the sex was good and you want more.” Jesus. Open mouth, insert foot.

He set the kitten on the floor and pulled her into his arms. “You’re wondering if last night was a mistake?”

“No. Not for me. But…yes.” He didn’t need to say a thing. The way he was holding her, tight yet gently, and the caring, seductive look in his eyes were definitely not the actions of a guy who was only after sex.

“Part of me wishes I could chalk this up to my favorite mistake,” he said softly. “But carnal desire is not the winner here.”

“I should probably hold on to the good parts of what you just said and tuck away the rest, but—”

“You can’t, because Ryders don’t run from the hard stuff.”

“You heard that, huh?” She was glad he had, because she could no sooner pretend to not care about what was left unsaid than she could pretend that being in his arms wasn’t warming her up in all the best places.

“You didn’t really give me a choice.” He kissed her again, a quick, tender press of his lips. “Do you want coffee?”

“Sure, thanks.” She followed him to the table. “This smells delicious.”

“I cook when I’m edgy.” He handed her a mug of coffee and motioned for her to sit down, then took the seat beside her.